Editorial: Let’s celebrate what’s to come

One of the interesting things about ringing in a new year is that we’re celebrating, in some ways, the unknown and the unforeseen. We’re excited about what’s to come even though we don’t know exactly what that will be.

In today’s issue of the News Bulletin, we present the second part of our year-in-review coverage, but there’s a twist – we’re not only looking back at 2016, but also forward at the ways these stories will continue to unfold in 2017. We consider how a multiplex project might move ahead. We wonder exactly how a downtown corner will rebuild after a fire. We look at the ways our communities are dealing with challenges – the City of Nanaimo restructuring its economic development arm and the District of Lantzville attempting to secure its water supply. We lament the opioid overdose crisis and look forward to solutions.

There were several other news stories we considered, because almost any topic has a way of advancing from one year to the next. With some of these ongoing issues, our communities continue to work and learn and grow, and hopefully that means we will take more of the right steps as we go forward.

They’re new year’s resolutions, perhaps. However these issues play out, it’s important that we get them right. Sometimes there isn’t a right or wrong – a multiplex referendum isn’t going to be unanimous, in favour or against. Sometimes there will be only small victories – there will be more fentanyl overdose deaths, but perhaps we can slow the rate.

More important than these Nanaimo resolutions are our own personal ones, whether they relate to our physical and mental health, addictions, behaviour, relationships, finances, education, careers, whatever. We can effect positive change and even if our resolutions last just a week or two, we might be better for it.

Things are going to be different next year. We don’t quite know how, but let’s celebrate all the same. It’s worth raising a glass to toast 2017: the year that means the most because it represents what comes next.